The present invention relates broadly to hospital fixtures and, more particularly, to a headwall fixture which defines a station for neonatal infant care and provides a cluster of necessary services, equipment and accessories.
Neonatal infant care facilities are areas in hospitals which care for premature babies and other infants who are in some form of medical distress. They may be placed in cribs or incubators and, as is common in modern hospitals, typically require a plethora of equipment to support and sustain life.
As is also common, neonatal infant care is provided in large rooms with a plurality of individual stations that provide all the necessary equipment to care for one infant thereat. The equipment typically includes air, vacuum, oxygen and electrical services. Further, blood pressure monitors, heart monitors, and other analyzers are common. Additionally, tools and hand-held instrumentation need to be close at hand.
Currently, neonatal headwall fixtures are typically rectangular cabinets having flat walls. A crib or incubator on wheels is rolled into a position adjacent the cabinet and positioned at whatever orientation provides the best access to the necessary services, instrumentation and accessories. Such an arrangement remains unfocused in that the infant support device, be it crib or incubator, may be positioned in virtually any orientation with respect to the headwall fixture. This is likely a sufficient arrangement, yet it is less than ideal for attending to neonatal infant care.